Previous Regional Marine Planning Process - the South-east Regional Marine Plan
On 8 September 2005, Australia’s world-leading program of Regional Marine Planning was brought directly under federal environment law to provide a clearer focus on conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment.
Under the new approach, Marine Bioregional Plans established under section 176 of the EPBC Act, outline key conservation issues and priorities in each marine region to act as a guide to the Minister, sectoral managers and industry about what activities can occur in each region.
Prior to this, Regional Marine Planning outlined regional objectives (not confined just to environmental objectives) and listed individual management actions to be undertaken by governments, industry and community members to achieve these objectives. The first and only Plan developed using this broader approach to marine planning was the South-east Regional Marine Plan.
Released in May 2004, the South-east Regional Marine Plan takes in more than two million square kilometres for Australia’s ocean territory around Victoria, Tasmania, eastern South Australia and southern New South Wales, as well as sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. The Plan contains 93 actions designed to achieve sustainable oceans management and although it will be superseded in the future by a section 176 Marine Bioregional Plan for the South-east, all the objectives contained within the Plan remain relevant and most of the actions have either been implemented or continue to be implemented.
Development of the South-east Regional Marine Plan began in April 2000 and the process included the production of an extensive amount of information on marine planning and the ecology, economics and management structure of the South-east Marine Region.
This body of information – most of which is still very valid today – and the final South-east Regional Marine Plan are available on the South-east Regional Marine Planning Publications page.
A key component of the South-east Regional Marine Plan was the development of a network of Marine Protected Areas MPAs) within the region. Two candidate MPAs - the Murray and Zeehan MPAs - were announced as part of the South-east Regional Marine Plan in May 2004. A further 11 MPAs were announced with the release of the full network of South-east Marine Protected Areas in early 2006. New Network of Candidate Marine Protected Areas for Australia's South-east Marine Region provides details including maps, fact sheets and information about the declaration process.
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